With 'Better', I wanted to celebrate those I'm lucky to have in my life, who make me better and encourage me to be stronger: Ananya Birla

MUMBAI: Many might think she is entitled. However, one can’t deny the efforts and work done by her to create her own niche. Ananya Birla, an heiress to one of the biggest conglomerate in India, has taken up music as her prime passion in life. She has already performed at major events and released four singles. Her fifth single, Better, after Livin’ TheLife, Meant To Be, Hold On and Circles, has just released and all set to top the charts.

Explaining how Better is different from rest of her tracks, Ananya says, “Better is a super upbeat, electro-pop track. I was aiming for a really fun vibe that would have the same effect whether you’re at a festival or just driving in the car. It’s definitely a song to make you smile. I debuted Better at Sunburn at the beginning of the year which was truly epic. The track’s already gone Gold and hit over ten million views on YouTube which is awesome!”

She also shares details about the video, “We just released the vertical video, which is something I’ve wanted to do for a while. I loved the ones Camilla Cabello, Ariana Grande and Halsey did recently. They all have this amazing intimacy, where you really engage with the artist, and that’s exactly what I wanted to achieve.”

Every art has an inspiration behind it and the track Better too has one, “I learned a lot about people and relationships last year. Maybe I was a little naïve before, but my eyes were opened to the people I can trust and those that maybe were not so good for me. It is so important to surround yourself with positive people who lift you up. With Better, I wanted to celebrate those I’m lucky enough to have in my life who make me better and encourage me to be stronger.”

Ananya is also grateful and proud of her team as she says, “Any song takes a large team! I am so grateful to have met all these amazing people from across the world, who put the single together. I am signed with Universal Music India, who is really involved in the marketing of my music and have been instrumental in so much of what I’ve done over the past couple of years. Working with them has been amazing. Island Records, who have artists like Ariana Grande and Post Malone on their roster, also supported the song in the UK. Mood Melodies did the production. We’ve done loads together over the past year and are on totally the same wavelength in the studio, which is so important. He’s collaborated with some amazing people and has a real understanding of what can take a song to the next level. I developed the video with Tim Nackashi. We met a while back in LA and I told him how much I loved the No Lie video he did with Sean Paul and DuaLipa, and then we got chatting about how we might work together. It was so much fun filming. I love to make music videos because you have so much creative freedom to play with. And lastly, my internal team worked really hard to coordinate with everyone and get the song together!”

About her future plans, she says, “I have my first EP out in April which is really exciting. My next song with Sean Kingston is on there - we met when we were performing at Oktoberfest in Goa and really connected. It was a great experience collaborating with him; he’s incredibly fun with such a big heart. I’ve also got a track, which I did with a couple of hip-hop artists from Nigeria as well as some stuff I developed over here. I wanted to create something that would appeal back at home and around the world, hopefully it will have something for everyone.”

While the singles keep her busy and her first EP is on the way, Ananya shares her ultimate dream, “I’d love to win a Grammy! But beyond that, the most important thing for me is to carry on doing what I love and hopefully make people smile while I’m doing it. “

She signs off not before telling about her dream collaborations, both, domestic as well as international, “Eminem has always been my hero. People are sometimes a little surprised when I say that because our styles are pretty different, but I love how authentic his music is, you can really feel the emotion in it. It’s something I really strive to do, because audiences connect so much better when they know a song comes from the heart. He would be my dream collaboration. In India, by dream collaboration would be with none other than A.R. Rahman. He is a true legend and I really look up to how he puts his heart in his songs.”

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